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While the High Park Fire’s devastation wreaked havoc on Fort Collins’ ecosystem, it also hurt many in an area just as painful: the bottom line. Here is a sector-by-sector look at how the fire is affecting Northern Colorado’s outdoor tourism industry, and where they plan to go from here:

Rafting: 'I'm praying for snow'

Like a farmer devoted to his crops, Robert Breckenridge is hoping and praying for precipitation.

The owner of A1 Wildwater in Fort Collins for the past 31 years, Breckenridge prays for heavy snow to fall in the high country through April. Because, like the ski industry, rafting is a fickle business.

Too little snowpack during the winter and the Poudre River runs dry. A short, low peak season is expected.

Combine a low snowpack year, a severe drought, and the worst fire Northern Colorado has ever seen, and you wind up with a disaster recipe for the Fort Collins rafting business.

“No doubt, we were far below our normal bookings this season. Any of the other owners will tell you that,” said Ryan Barwick, manager of Rocky Mountain Adventures. “From a financial and environmental impact, this season was one of the most difficult and frustrating seasons I’ve been a part of.”

For three weeks in June, the five Fort Collins rafting companies designated to run the Poudre River were forced to close shop and keep the blue and yellow rafts ashore. The High Park Fire roared through the canyon, scarring the hillsides and dumping ash and silt into the river as it jumped the banks on its way to Glacier View and Red Feather. Summer bookings were canceled as news spread of the fire across the country.

Breckenridge said his company’s business was slashed in half. He compared this summer to that of 2002, one of the worst years in modern commercial rafting in Colorado.

Dealing with a serious drought, the 26,004 rafters who went on commercial rafting trips in 2002 on the Poudre were the fewest since 1994, when 24,949 commercial visits were recorded by the Colorado River Outfitters Association.

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Final numbers for the 2012 season won’t be released by the Colorado River Outfitters Association until February, but local owners fear the numbers may be similar to a decade earlier. In 2011, the Poudre River generated $11.2 million in economic impact, hosting 37,869 commercial visits.

Breckenridge is hopeful that, with a solid snowpack this winter, and a wetter summer without fire, the Fort Collins rafting business can rebound in 2013.

“Statistically, it’s pretty far-fetched that there will be two super dry years right in a row,” Breckenridge said. “I kind of feel like a farmer, instead of praying for rain, I’m praying for snow. … A lot of the trees didn’t burn down low. Up at the tops they did, but from the river view itself, the canyon doesn’t look too bad.”

Hiking: Restoring Young Gulch Trail

There are sections of Greyrock Trail that look like a moonscape. Other sections of the rocky trail are lush and green; reminders that Mother Nature does indeed recover.

At least users can hike Greyrock. The same can’t be said about Young Gulch Trail. A long road to recovery is ahead for the trail, which was ravaged by the Hewlett Gulch and High Park Fire.

“It’s very dangerous right now, especially when it rains,” said Fred Allen, president of the Arapaho Roosevelt Pawnee Foundation. “There is debris everywhere.”

Allen has helped raise money to financially support the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grasslands. He said the Poudre Wilderness Volunteers have several work days scheduled in 2013 for Young Gulch.

Before the blaze, Young Gulch Trail saw about 20,000 hikers and mountain bikers each year. Now the 4.7-mile closed trail is severely blackened, its trees wiped out. With several stream crossings, flash flood concerns are very real.

“That’s going to take a while. It’s very dangerous, especially when it rains,” Allen said. “We’re hoping for the trail to open by the end of next season. It might take all season though.”

Volunteers helped restore Hewlett Gulch Trail and dozens of volunteers, both from the Poudre Wilderness Volunteers, as well as civilians, participated in the Sept. 29 National Public Lands Day at the Mountain Park and Narrows Campgrounds. The group planted more than 250 Ponderosa Pines and 75 native shrubs, Allen said.

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“We’ve held National Public Lands Day before the fire and attendance was miserable,” Allen said. “This year, I think because of the fire, people felt motivated to come on out. They were inspired to help.”

Cycling: Community looking forward

Kory Swanson, Overland Mountain Bike Club communications director, had to postpone this summer’s endurance mountain bike race, 40 in the Fort, due to the smoky conditions of the High Park Fire. He called it one of the most difficult decisions the club had to make during a “frustrating and unsettling” summer.

Swanson, however, now has his eyes set on the future of mountain biking in Fort Collins. The Overland Mountain Bike Club is developing a regional trail plan that could change the landscape of mountain biking trails in Fort Collins.

Working with several local land agencies and trail planning and design consultants, Kay-Linn Enterprises, the Overland Mountain Bike Club envisions a regional trail system that is fun and usable for all user groups, Swanson said.

“This is an exciting and long-term project of what we want the region’s trails to look like,” Swanson said.

As part of the development process, the club has created a trail use survey for input from the community. The 10-minute survey may be accessed at http://bit.ly/OverlandSurvey.

Lory State Park: Still in good shape

Yes, Lory State Park was closed for 17 days during June because of the High Park Fire, but the park west of Fort Collins still had a bright summer.

Consider the events the 2,600-acre Colorado State Park hosted in August and September: The XTERRA Lory Triathlon, a premier off-road triathlon that attracted professional racers; the Lory Park Mountain Challenge, a four-week mountain bike race series for seasoned veterans and beginners; and the second annual 40 in the Fort mountain bike race.

Visitation to Lory State Park through June was only slightly less than the first six months of 2011, said Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton and he expects visitation to stay steady through the end of fall and into the winter season.

“We don’t anticipate any long-term negative impact from the fire,” he said. “One of the benefits of the merger (Colorado State Parks merging with the Colorado Division of Wildlife in 2011) is that the system places less emphasis on individual parks. We understand that each park is unique and has something different to offer and is in a different situation. No park is less important than another. It’s not like, ‘Lory is underperforming, the budget is going to be cut.’ The parks are solid financially and Lory has a bright future.”